


it's even harder to picture that you're not here next to me

by notthebigspoon



Series: After the Rain [4]
Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-05
Updated: 2012-08-05
Packaged: 2017-11-11 12:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/478493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notthebigspoon/pseuds/notthebigspoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eli Whiteside is good at a lot of things, like catching and making wake up calls. He's also got a talent for sticking his foot in his mouth. Fortunately for him, so does Jonathan.</p><p>Title taken from Payphone by Maroon5.</p>
            </blockquote>





	it's even harder to picture that you're not here next to me

**Author's Note:**

> Te odio = I hate you.
> 
> Vete pa'l carajo = go to hell.

“I'm not exactly sure what you just said to me but I'm sure it wasn't nice."

Jonathan grunts and mumbles into his phone again, not pulling his face out of his pillow.

“Baby, you gotta get up.”

“Don't wanna.”

“Johnny.”

“Te odio.”

“Vete pa'l carajo. I'm not giving you your wake up calls anymore if this is how you treat me.” Eli mutters but he sounds amused. Jonathan sighs and rolls over sprawling onto his back.

“Fine. I'm awake. Happy now?”

“Ecstatic. Turn your computer on.”

The call drops abruptly and Jonathan grumbles, stumbling to the living room and grabbing his laptop, placing it on the kitchen counter as he starts the coffee maker. He flips the lid open and hauls up a bar stool, pushing the 'on' button. No sooner has the machine started and his programs loaded when a window flies up that says 'the love of your life is calling'. He frowns and skims his finger over the track pad, clicking 'answer'. Eli's face flies up in a video window that takes up most of the screen. His eyes are a little red and his skin a little pale from being sick but he's beaming.

“Oh good, you answered.”

“What the hell is this?”

Eli rolls his eyes. “Skype. Remember I had you install it and sign up a couple weeks ago?”

“You have me do a lot of things. I kinda forget about half of them.” Jonathan says with a shrug, rubbing his eyes. “This is nice though...”

It is. Eli is smiling that bright, wide smile that Jonathan doesn't get to see often enough. He's a little angry all over again that they have to be apart, that they have to see each other like this, but on the other hand this makes it a little bit easier. He's reminded why he generally does whatever his husband tells him to do... well, aside from the fact that he's kinda whipped sometimes.

Really. He is. He'll admit it.

“Hey. Pay attention.” Eli laughs, snapping his fingers at the camera. Jonathan blushes and flips him off, waving his hand as he gets up to get himself a mug of coffee before sitting down. “Promises, promises. So do you like?”

“It doesn't suck.”

“You wound me, darlin'.”

“No. But I've thought about it.” Jonathan smirks, taking a long drink of his coffee. “How's Fresno?”

“We lost last night. I saw you guys did. Pretty fantastically, I might add.”

Jonathan says nothing, just looking at him for a moment before draining his coffee and getting up for another mug. He thinks about it for a moment and then decides to go ahead and make himself breakfast. Amarillos and fried eggs. It'll take a little while and give Eli time to think about the fact that he can really be an ass on occasion. He can hear noises coming from the computer, a faint call of his name but he ignores it. 

Slipping his breakfast onto a plate, he grabs a fork and another mug of coffee, settling back onto his stool. He pushes the laptop back to give himself enough room to eat. Eli is on the screen picking at a muffin and looking sheepish. Heh. Sheepish. Jonathan smothers a smirk and just forks the amarillos into his mouth after dunking them in the egg yolk. 

“I'm sorry.”

“You should be. Maybe they're not your team but they're mine and it still matters to me if we win.”

Eli looks a little surprised and maybe that's justified. Jonathan never called the Royals his team because he never felt like they were and the Rockies didn't up until now but for some reason, everything yesterday with the cat changed that. He sighs, glancing out into the living room where the cat is sprawled on the couch snoozing.

“At least it wasn't you?”

“Does it matter?” Jonathan asks, feeling a little miserable. “It could just as easily have been me all over again. What if I get sent down again?”

“It'd hurt, wouldn't it?” Eli asks with a mild smile and Jonathan smacks his palm against his face. Okay, so they're both idiots.

“That's... it's not what I meant. Look, what if I get cut loose? It's happened. What if I can't find a team, even a minors team? It's happened to other people and it could happen to me.”

“Darlin'... s'how the game is. I'm not going to say that won't happen because it could. It could happen to anybody and it has. Happened to Molina, remember? Could happen to me. One day, we don't know when, s'all gonna be over. Baseball, it'll be gone. But it'll be okay. Y'know why?”

Jonathan scowls and stuffs more eggs into his mouth, mumbling around them because he knows Eli hates it when he talks with his mouth full, “And why's that?”

“Because at the end of the day, you'll still have me and I'll still have you. We have our families and we have our homes.”

“Where people just think we're best friends. Insanely close best friends but still just best friends.”

Eli is quiet for a moment, looking pensive and thoughtful as he pushes a hand through that gray hair that he's made peace with and that Jonathan loves. “Is that what this is all about? Because I will come out in a heartbeat. I will shout it from the fucking rooftops, Jonathan Sanchez.”

The _because I will do whatever it fucking takes to make you happy_ goes unspoken and Jonathan feels more than a little guilty. Because he would never force that on Eli.

“Maybe someday. Not now but someday.”

They're both quiet, silently eating and not really looking at each other. 

Jonathan speaks first. “We okay?”

“Always are. Now, you need to go get dressed and head to the park. Yes, I'm watching the clock. It's late, you bum. Give Timmy a hug for me.”

“That's fraternizing with the enemy.”

Eli smirks. “You fraternize with me.”

“Yes, but I get to fraternize with you naked and that's sexy.”

“Go. Dress. Now. And give Mercutio a scritch for me, okay?”

“Si. Text me.”

“I'll call you maybe.”

Jonathan stares at his husband and promptly slams the lid of the laptop shut. Wrong. So wrong.


End file.
